The toothbrush is one of the most common devices known to man. Modern twentieth-century oral hygiene for people in all parts of the world includes the daily use of a tooth brush of some sort, often used more than once per day and often used in conjunction and/or association with other devices, including dental floss, dental tapes, regular wooden or plastic toothpicks, water picks, gum stimulators and the like.
The typical pharmacy carries numerous types of toothbrushes, including different sizes, such as for children or for adults, different stiffness bristles, such as "soft", "medium" and "hard", as well as numerous different manufacturers which each typically have their own unique features, including various colors or patterns, various sized or shaped handles, etc.
Polyester or other polymeric fibers such as are typically used in modern toothbrushes have long been available. They can be found in various lengths, i.e. wound on spools or precut, of various thicknesses and materials, and having other varying characteristics, including stiffness, roughness, durability, etc. The tips of the bristles can be treated in a variety of different ways. They can all be cut to an identical height, they can be given varying heights, such as is well known, to provide a contoured or more efficient toothbrush, and they can be set into the head of the toothbrush at any of a variety of different angles or combinations of angles.
Typically, bristles on a toothbrush are bundled together, and individual bundles or clusters of bristles are then set into the head of the toothbrush handle. This procedure is well known and universally practiced, essentially to the exclusion of all others. Bundles of fibers are either stapled into the head, typically using a small metal or plastic section, or they are fused together, such as by heat, and then the bundles placed into holes on the head of a toothbrush, or the bundles are set into a mold for further processing.
Numerous designs for bristles are known to those skilled in the art. Bristles are often given a roughened surface at the tip or at other portions. A given bundle of bristles may have a rounded tip profile, or they may be cut to form an opening or cup like structure, known as a "prophy cup". The bundles of bristles may also be set into the head of the toothbrush in a certain, predetermined pattern, such as a diamond shape, rows or columns, etc. The height of the bundles of bristles can taper, be wavy, or have any other tip profile. These designs are typically constructed with the objective of improving cleaning efficiency of the brushes.
Dentists, periodontists, oral hygienists and others in the health and personal hygiene industries have long been aware of the need to provide a convenient device, such as a toothbrush, etc., to clean the interstitial and interproximal areas of the teeth and gums. Numerous picks and brushes are designed to penetrate the spaces between the gum and the tooth, as far as in needed, to clean food particles, plaque, bacteria and other foreign material from those areas, thereby improving gingival and periodontal health.
The drawbacks of the prior art are numerous. A rounded or spiked bundle of bristles may not always provide the clearance for the longest bristles to penetrate the gum/tooth interproximal areas as deeply as possible. Furthermore, the longest bristles may become worn, frayed or otherwise less than the most efficient. The typical prophy cup design suffers for the same reason--the great number of bristles around the outside of the cup often don't allow a great number of individual fibers to achieve interproximal penetration.